Fabienne Verdier- Retables, Waddington Custot, London - Flipbook - Page 25
was one of the redeeming functions of Catholic iconography. The colours
that appeared as she watered the garden – created by the angle of sunlight
hitting the water droplets – sparked memories in the artist’s mind of the
luminous aura surrounding the Risen Christ in the Resurrection scene
on the back of the famous altarpiece’s right-hand panel. This connection,
naturally, led Fabienne Verdier into a dialogue with Grünewald’s art. At
that time, the world had come to a standstill due to a potentially lethal
pandemic. With the sky free from aerial traffic, its vastness captured our
attention. In the galaxy, the deaths of stars triggered flaming auras reminiscent of the one illuminating Christ as he rose from the tomb. This vision
of colourful dissolution was something to marvel at during the health
crisis. Death seemed less bitter when viewed within the dynamics of the
universe. Spent life forces were immediately succeeded by others. The
disappearance of matter revealed other matter previously hidden. The end
was part of an interminable process. The result of this celestial-botanical
experiment was seventy-six Rainbow Paintings inspired by the luminous
halos that follow the implosions of stars. By refraction, Grünewald’s Crucifixion had initiated an unexpected circular cycle in Fabienne Verdier’s
work. Within the chromatic gradation, the boundary between the colours
was hazy, the wavelengths of each light frequency superimposed, causing
the effect of irradiation so characteristic of the rainbow.
Matthias Grünewald
The Issenheim Altarpiece,
The Resurrection
1516
Recently, someone asked me which element in Fabienne Verdier’s work
first moves me: the ground or the line? The question disturbed me. It is
as pernicious as the impossible distinction between content and form.
Because, in this case, the ground is also a form. How can it be separated
from the line with which it works in conjunction, as a form in its own right
in the perception of the painting? I fully understand what the questioner
was driving at. As the ground and the line are “formed” in two stages using
different processes, he imagined that they could be separated from each
other and placed alongside one another to compare their effect. This is to
misunderstand the nature of the work. The space conditions the line: it
is not neutral in its manifestation. What composes the ground inevitably
affects the formation of what is expressed there. Fabienne Verdier works
a lot on her grounds. The time she devotes to them is as fundamental as
the concentration required to produce the line in the dazzling speed of
its execution. She would like to see catalogues published showing X-rays
of her paintings rather than colour reproductions, which tend to homogenise her ground’s nuances and textures. In this regard, the Rainbow
Paintings altered the relationship between the viewer and her art. The
phenomenon of chromatic gradation captivates the eye, drawing attention
to both the ground and the lines, which are not always systematic in this
series. The complexity of the ground itself becomes a focal point, revealing the degree to which it is a stage for the dramatic interplay of colour.
The ground, whether liquid, solid or gaseous, is never empty or pristine; it
is a confluence of indistinct particles, innumerable currents, hidden accidents, and silent realities whose murmur the painter makes audible. The
atmosphere’s density mirrors the heterogeneity of blood. At the heart of
Fabienne Verdier’s work is her attention to the invisible infinity blended
into the apparent uniformity where bodies are born, grow and move. Just
as water cannot be reduced to its chemical formula, how can one visually
convey its eddies, underwater polyphony, the penetrating reverberated
light, the shimmer of the sky, the clouds, flirtations with wind squalls,
concealed threats, aroused attractions, and areas of shadow and light?
Everything, identifiable or not, is swallowed up in its cohesion. Once a
certain speed is reached, rotation becomes imperceptible to the human
eye, but this does not mean it ceases to exist. The spinning is ensconced
in the illusion of the still image. In the visible world, the extreme speed
of these spinning forces creates circles from which a hypnotic dust haze
emanates. The brightly coloured radiance of the Rainbow Paintings comes
from the energies that underlie them. The apparent stability of the solar
system is based on the revolution of the planets. Fabienne Verdier has
buried this incessant movement, which sets the example for the universal
order, in the grounds of her paintings, like a secretly boiling amnion that
gives rise to a vocabulary of forms.
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